.... similar in England. And while we Germans have a few parties more for most of our post-war-history politics were mainly made by the two "big ones" - the right CDU and the left SPD (both having some of the other parties as allies depending on the issue).

I guess as long as the two parties actually are *different* and and voters - by choosing one or the other - can kind of "steer" the direction in which they want their country to go it's ok. But in the recent years the major left and right parties (in many countries, not just here) have moved more and more to what they conceive as "the center", because there most voters seem to be. Which has lead to politics where you often can't tell any more whether it's coming from the "left" or "right"...

left or right? what the fuck is that?
ones say, we're left, others say, we're right.
but in fact no one explained me who they are... what's right and what's left? (I know the official explanation, but the real one is..?)

.... similar in England. And while we Germans have a few parties more for most of our post-war-history politics were mainly made by the two "big ones" - the right CDU and the left SPD (both having some of the other parties as allies depending on the issue).

I guess as long as the two parties actually are *different* and and voters - by choosing one or the other - can kind of "steer" the direction in which they want their country to go it's ok. But in the recent years the major left and right parties (in many countries, not just here) have moved more and more to what they conceive as "the center", because there most voters seem to be. Which has lead to politics where you often can't tell any more whether it's coming from the "left" or "right"...

In Canada, similar to Germany, we have multiple political parties. The Conservatives (aka Alliance aka Tories) who are very right wing, the Liberals (middle, but slightly right), then we have the National Democratic Party (NDP) which are left, the Bloc Quebecois (who are only relevant in Quebec and are a French separatist party), and the Green Party (basically insignificant because it has NEVER WON A SEAT). The party that gets the most votes doesn't necessarily win, they must meet a certain target of seats. Depending on how many seats the winning party gets will decide if they govern with a minority or majority government. If the party in power wants to make a new law, they have to team up with at least one other party to pass it if the party in power did not get that majority. Plus they have a shorter term before a vote if they did not get the majority.

I liked it because it kept them fair.. until CSIS upgraded Stephen Harper's laser eyes from stun to KILL. Now no one is safe.